Inmates Drive No More

Ten days after a fatal crash involving an inmate-driven prison van, the director of the state's prisons department has ended the program that allowed inmates to drive state owned vans to ferry other inmates to and from work release sites.

Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Director Robert Houston announced the demise of the program Friday at a news conference in Lincoln.

The program had already been suspended last Friday, three days after investigators say a prison van driven by 35 year old inmate Jeremy Dobbe hit a minivan, killing its driver, 47 year old Joyce Meeks.

Houston said Friday that inmates who are assigned to work detail jobs will be transported by department staff from now on.